1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an occupant protecting device having an expandable bag accommodated within a belt for holding back an occupant upon collision of a vehicle.
2. The Related Art
A known occupant protecting device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,791,670, in which, when a tongue mounted on a belt is coupled to a buckle mounted on a seat, a buckle-side duct having a tip end which opens and a tongue-side duct having a tip end which likewise opens are connected rectilinearly to each other, so that a gas generated by an inflater is supplied from the buckle-side duct via the tongue-side duct to the belt.
This known occupant protecting device suffers from a problem in that the tip end of the buckle-side duct opens upwards. When the belt is not put on, the opening is visible directly to the occupant, resulting in a degraded external appearance. In addition, when there is no lid in the opening, dust easily enters into the buckle-side duct.